PAP set to replace branch chair in Aljunied GRC in second reshuffle in 6 months, as it moves closer to finalising GE slate

SINGAPORE: The People’s Action Party (PAP) will replace the chairman of its Paya Lebar branch within the opposition-held Aljunied GRC, just six months after a previous reshuffle, sources told CNA.

Current branch chair Kenny Sim Mong Keang, 55, who assumed the role in August last year, will be stepping down due to health reasons, CNA understands.

Insiders told CNA that political newcomer Daniel Liu is expected to take over the position.

NEW FACE INTRODUCED

Mr Liu is the managing director of urban planning consultancy Morrow Architects and Planners, and also executive director of Morrow Intelligence, an urban planning data analytics firm.

He is the current Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) chairman of the Nee Soon East ward in Nee Soon GRC.

CCCs plan and lead major grassroots activities within constituencies, oversee local assistance programmes, and organise major fund-raising projects and national campaigns.

Mr Liu has been volunteering in Nee Soon East – currently represented by Member of Parliament Louis Ng – since October 2014. He is the son of Singapore's former chief planner Liu Thai Ker.

He is the organising chairman for the ongoing Springtime Splendor Chinese New Year carnival in Nee Soon.

When contacted, both Mr Liu and outgoing chair Mr Sim declined to comment.

Over in the PAP’s Bedok Reservoir-Punggol branch, vice-chairman Adrian Ang will take over from chairman Victor Lye, the same sources told CNA.

Mr Lye was part of the PAP teams that faced the Workers’ Party (WP) in the five-member constituency in 2015 and 2020.

Dr Ang, the 41-year-old director of facility and environmental management company Chye Thiam Maintenance, was previously branch secretary of Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat’s Toa Payoh West-Thomson division in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, before he joined the Aljunied team.

CNA has reached out to Dr Ang for comment.

The PAP has declined to comment on the movements of the branch chairs.

MAKING NECESSARY CHANGES

Aljunied GRC is not the only opposition-held ward in which the ruling party has made changes in key personnel recently.

In Sengkang GRC, Ms Bernadette Giam last month replaced Mr Marcus Loh as Sengkang East branch chair, about a year and a half after he took over from his predecessor Ling Weihong.

Political observers told CNA the changes show that the party will not hesitate to switch up its potential line-up in those wards, in order to put together a slate which would give them the best chance of winning back the constituencies.

The branch chairs in such wards are typically the party’s candidates when the general election comes around.

Singapore Management University’s associate professor of law Eugene Tan said: “I don’t look at these changes as weakening the team.

“I think there’s a combination of both, that some of these individuals may not be able to commit their time, and that if the party thinks the current configuration is not going to work for the ward then they will push for a change.”

He noted that the new faces being flocked out are given enough time to walk the ground, and for the party to assess their performance.

“If the party doesn’t think it’s working out, such as if the residents do not view you favourably, then they have to swap,” said Assoc Prof Tan.

Independent observer Felix Tan, who has written about Singapore’s political landscape, said that it also represents a shift in how the PAP fields its candidates.

“Instead of bringing in people whom they think can win, such as those with impressive CVs and qualifications, they rather suss out the ground to see who are the ones that are actually in touch and can connect with residents,” he said.

He added that figuring out its strategy in opposition-held wards is ultimately quite a new challenge for the PAP.

“After all, it is a relatively recent development, just three GEs ago that they lost the first GRC,” he noted.

He said that PAP candidates in opposition-held wards have been shifted to run in other constituencies in subsequent elections, after gaining sufficient political experience.

For instance, current Senior Minister of State for Manpower and for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon contested and lost the 2013 by-election in Punggol East. Tampines GRC MP Desmond Choo had also stood unsuccessfully in Hougang for the 2011 General Election and the 2012 by-election.

“If they win, they become the MP. If they don’t, they would have gained the experience of running a branch and could be shifted out of the constituency in a later election,” explained Dr Tan.

Assoc Prof Tan said that the changes in personnel could also be part of a long-term strategy by the ruling party to dedicate its activists on the ground in those areas, looking ahead to future electoral contests.

“It’s the same as what the WP does in the east. They also play the long game. And for these teams, one day the conditions may just be right,” he said.

FIRST GRC WON BY OPPOSITION

Aljunied GRC was first won by the WP in the 2011 election, defeating a PAP team which included Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo and newcomer Ong Ye Kung, who is currently Minister for Health.

It had secured 54.72 per cent of the votes, becoming the first opposition party to win a GRC since the implementation of the system in 1988.

The team was led by then-WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, who left his long-time stronghold of Hougang to contest the GRC. It included current Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, party chairman Sylvia Lim, Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap and newcomer Chen Show Mao.

The WP then retained Aljunied GRC in the 2015 electoral contest, with 50.95 per cent of the votes. Given the close outcome, the PAP team applied for a recount, but was eventually still edged out.

The PAP team had comprised veteran four-term MP Yeo Guat Kwang, and four new faces, including current Kaki Bukit branch chairman Mr Shamsul Kamar.

In the last General Election in 2020, Mr Singh led his party to victory in the constituency again, in his first electoral outing after taking over the reins from Mr Low in 2018.